Frederick Barbarossa held the imperial diet at Altenburg in 1165, making it one of his preferred Saxon residences and almost certainly the administrative justification for a local mint striking in his name. Bracteates from this mint are among the thinner, more fragile examples of the type — single-sided striking on foil-thin blanks left them acutely vulnerable to folding and cracking in the purse, which accounts for the rarity of undamaged survivors today.
Frederick Barbarossa held the imperial diet at Altenburg in 1165, making it one of his preferred Saxon residences and almost certainly the administrative justification for a local mint striking in his name. Bracteates from this mint are among the thinner, more fragile examples of the type — single-sided striking on foil-thin blanks left them acutely vulnerable to folding and cracking in the purse, which accounts for the rarity of undamaged survivors today.